slime
Americannoun
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thin, glutinous mud.
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any ropy or viscous liquid matter, especially of a foul kind.
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a viscous secretion of animal or vegetable origin.
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Also called slimeball. Slang. a repulsive or despicable person.
verb (used with object)
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to cover or smear with or as if with slime.
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to remove slime from, as fish for canning.
noun
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soft thin runny mud or filth
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any moist viscous fluid, esp when noxious or unpleasant
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a mucous substance produced by various organisms, such as fish, slugs, and fungi
verb
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to cover with slime
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to remove slime from (fish) before canning
Usage
What else does slime mean? What’s up, slime? Slime is slang for a (usually male) "friend," often used as a term of address, like dude or bro.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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slimesimple
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slimessimple
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have slimedperfect
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has slimedperfect
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am slimingprogressive
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are slimingprogressive
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is slimingprogressive
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have been slimingperfect progressive
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has been slimingperfect progressive
Past
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slimedsimple
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had slimedperfect
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was slimingprogressive
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were slimingprogressive
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had been slimingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of slime
before 1000; Middle English slyme, Old English slīm; cognate with Dutch slijm, German Schleim, Old Norse slīm
Explanation
Slime is a substance that's slippery, damp, and gooey, like the slime that grows on the bottom on a swimming pool if it's not cleaned often enough. People are generally disgusted by slime, so if your dinner guest comments that your famous spinach soufflé looks like slime, you'll probably feel insulted. Like your spinach soufflé, slime is usually greenish in color, though the clear stuff a snail leaves behind is slime too. If you slime something, you cover it in a slimy substance. Experts believe that slime comes from the Old English lim, "sticky substance," which shares a root with the Russian slimak, or "snail."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
There isn’t a lot of wit involved in imagining what orange slime could do to a location, and a lot of veteran talent gets thrown into the service of a lot of kindergarten humor.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 1, 2026
Only a few days after the pool was refilled, though, it reverted what it always is: a filthy slime pit that nevertheless does an adequate job of its primary objective: reflecting.
From Slate • Jun. 19, 2026
"The key innovation in the biosynthesis of tagatose was in finding the slime mold Gal1P enzyme and splicing it into our production bacteria," said Nair.
From Science Daily • Jan. 13, 2026
“Like slime, sludge, and muck, slop has the wet sound of something you don’t want to touch,” the editors continued.
From Salon • Jan. 13, 2026
The fish slime glistened on his fingers as he raised the horseshoe, and Anya caught the briefest flash of magic spiderwebbing out from it.
From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
